FIRST-YEAR Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has the salute of his peers.

The AFL Coaches Association last night recognised Hinkley’s extraordinary work in lifting the Power from 14th to fifth - and from a basket case to a respected rival on the field - with the Allan Jeans Award.

Hinkley is the third SA-based AFL coach to win the trophy, following Mark Williams in his premiership year at Port Adelaide in 2004 and Neil Craig in his debut season with Adelaide in 2005.

The AFL’s official title of Coach of the Year - and coach of the All-Australian team - will be handed to the winning coach in Saturday’s grand final: Alastair Clarkson (Hawthorn) or Ross Lyon (Fremantle).

Hinkley was the only SA-based AFL identity honoured last night when Power club champion Chad Wingard was runner-up to Greater Western Sydney forward Jeremy Cameron as the coaches’ “best young player” with less than two years’ experience in the AFL.

The coaches’ weekly voting for the Player of Year Award contradicted the Brownlow Medal count by acknowledging Collingwood midfielder Scott Pendlebury as the game’s best player in the home-and-away series. He polled 96 votes - one more than Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett (Gold Coast) and two more than Brownlow runner-up Joel Selwood (Geelong).